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Vera approached Archer with a wary glance at the witch. I couldn’t blame her. The witch could easily hurt or kill her.
“She’s my Consort,” Jeff said as Vera took the knife from Archer. His eyes bore into Vera with an intensity that made me want to back away, and he wasn’t even looking at me. “That means she is my wife. Do not hurt her. She is not the enemy here. Tessa is a wonderful person and the love of my life.”
Huh. That was news. So Adam and I weren’t the only couple amongst the Lanshay brothers anymore.
“Congratulations, man.” Archer slapped Jeff on the back as Macey moved to Jeff’s other ankle to cut that bond as well.
“Thanks.”
“Anybody else have girls yet, or is it just you and Carmon?” Carmon had a wife too?
Adam hadn’t communicated with me since he’d told me something bad was happening. He’d told me then that he didn’t know how long we’d be apart. However, his brothers didn’t seem to have pushed their women away. Did Adam hide me because I was Neutral and couldn’t defend myself? The witch with Jeff could keep herself safe.
“Everyone but Adam has a girl.” Jeff’s answer startled me. Even though his brothers were all now married, Adam hadn’t told them about us yet? Why hadn’t he come for me?
“He’ll need a girl soon, like ASAP.” The female witch sat up and eyed my brother-in-law. “I’m surprised your uncles haven’t made him choose the first girl he saw.”
“Why would they do that?” I couldn’t stop the question from blurting out of my mouth.
They both looked at me. My height surprised them both as their eyes opened a little wider, but they hid their surprise well after that.
“It’s a long story, and we need to leave this place. The Mindolin is looking for Adam, to destroy him, and my insane brothers and their mates are on their way here like the knuckleheads they are.” Jeff pushed against Archer who helped the taller man to stand.
While Jeff got his feet beneath him, I tried not to panic in my corner of the room. The Mindolin wanted Adam dead, and Adam was on his way here. First, how did Jeff know his brothers were on their way? Second, why was Adam coming?
The thought hadn’t finished crossing through when I sunk to the floor as the answer hit me: Adam was coming for me.
“I’m sorry I don’t have time to learn all your names,” Jeff was saying when my head finally came back to the Vault instead of the stunned place I’d been sent to at the thought of Adam risking his life for me. “We need to leave. So, climb the stairs.”
“The enemy is still out there,” one of the newcomers complained. “That Mindolin guy is out there.”
Jeff scowled at the guy as I stood. “Well, stay here then. I don’t really care. Just know that this room is where the Mindolin originated from, so he very well could come back. Especially since he thinks Tessa and I are his prisoners.”
“I think it’s time to go.” Archer pulled on Jeff, but the man couldn’t keep his feet beneath him well. Vera helped the witch walk, but Macey was too short to help Jeff. So, I walked over.
“Take a hike, Mace. I’ve got this.” I looked to the man as he threw an arm around my shoulder. “I can’t fight worth beans. Good luck surviving with me along on this ride.”
Jeff gave a weak chuckle and shook his head. “Can’t be worse than being tied to the table.”
I could give him that.
The trek up the stairs to the library took everything in me. I might have been as tall as Jeff, or maybe an inch or so taller, but he had more muscled bulk than I did. Archer did his best to take as much of the man’s weight as he could, but it didn’t do much good.
Sweat beaded my brow by the time we reached the library exit. The doors were on the floor in the hallway. Someone had finished ripping them off their hinges. I didn’t want to meet that person. At least the doors no longer proved a hindrance as Archer and I walked with Jeff between us.
Macey, Vera, and Tessa walked in front of us. Jeff had given them what for about it, but Tessa could pretty much walk on her own. Vera just gave her some support. Each warrior held a knife, and Tessa wielded magic, so we wanted them at our front. The man I held up put up a fuss, but not a big one. He knew, like we did, that he was pretty useless to us at the moment.
“Which way?” Tessa whispered to Jeff as we stood outside the library, very much exposed.
“We need to go to the right. There’s a passage off a hallway that way that’ll lead us to a hidden outside door. It’s the escape built for the Council if there were ever a problem.” Jeff tilted his head the way we were supposed to walk.
“What happened to the Council?” Archer stumbled along and kept his voice low while asking the question we all wondered. “Are they dead?”
“Some are,” Tessa replied. “They were ambushed at their estates. Two betrayed us all and released the Mindolin.”
“Who is this Mindolin?” I turned my head to look at Jeff. The man’s jaw was clenched tight, and if he could look paler than earlier, he did.
“We’ll discuss this later.” Tessa turned her head as she answered. Her jaw was equally as tight, and my gut clenched that maybe they were more worried than they appeared. How bad was this guy?
